Biometric onboarding market reaches new phase as Onfido preps IPO

Onfido is considering a stock launch on the New York Stock Exchange, instead of London, as first reported by the Telegraph, where it could join Clear among the top biometrics IPOs of 2021.

The Telegraph says Onfido has begun adopting U.S. accounting standards in preparation for the move.

The company is also reportedly seeking a U.S.-based replacement for David Clarke, who recently stepped down as Chief Financial Officer, having hired American CEO Mike Tuchen late last year. Around that time, ex-CEO and Onfido founder Husayn Kassai wrote about the possibility of an IPO, saying the next tech giant could come from the digital ID space.

Currently valued at around £345 million ($479 million), according to the report, and is up to 428 staff in 9 offices spread across 7 countries.

Onfido said its last quarter was its best yet, with a 93 percent leap in revenues from its biometric identity verification business.

CityAM suggests Onfido would be joining a trend of UK startups listing in the U.S.

Ipsidy seeks $24M in uplisting to Nasdaq

Ipsidy (in the middle of a rebrand to authID.ai) has filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stating its intention to raise up to $24 million in its initial offering to the Nasdaq.

The company is currently listed on the OTCQB under the symbol ‘IDTYD,’ which is expected to change to ‘AUID,’ the same ticker symbol it plans to use on the Nasdaq. In the 12 months ending March 31, 2021, Ipsidy recorded revenues of $2 million.

Market reaches “tornado phase”

“COVID has fundamentally changed trajectory of digital transformation,” Acuity Market Research Principal Analyst and Chief Strategist Maxine Most said during a keynote address at the Find Biometrics Identity Summit.

The evolution of IT and global business in general has been accelerated, and Most points to an IDC forecast that $6.8 trillion will be invested in digital transformation by 2023.

For digital onboarding, Most says, a market traditionally made up mostly of financial services customers could grow into numerous new areas, with the enterprise IAM space a natural next step. Onfido is an example of a biometric onboarding provider with relationships in the IAM space, while Ping Identity has added its own onboarding capability.

Many of the companies Most has been speaking to have grown by between 100 percent and 400 percent since Q4 2020, demonstrating the market’s entry into what Most refers to as the “tornado phase.”

That phase represents the beginning of a mainstream adoption period which will see the establishment of “smart enterprises” with integrated physical and logical access control systems, and technology users not only onboarded but authenticated throughout the lifecycle of their engagement with the company.

One result of the massive acceleration of demand is more funding, with Most counting $658 million in funding flowing into digital onboarding providers between the beginning of 2021 and May 30. Onfido raised $100 million shortly before that, and Transmit Security raising $543 million since.

At this point in the market’s development, Most says, biometrics and onboarding providers need to recognize that technology innovation is no longer driving customer decision-making. Instead, she urges them to focus on C-level problem solving, differentiation, their ability to scale and deliver, and creating and executing an effective marketing strategy. Doing so could enable them to find uncontested markets in specific verticals, even as competitors move into the space from different areas of the market.

Article Topics

Acuity  |  authentication  |  authID  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  identity verification  |  IPO  |  Ipsidy  |  Maxine Most  |  onboarding  |  Onfido  |  stocks